Whom to Contact:

Susan Howe
Executive Director
(202) 974-5223
showe@socplas.org

The Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Packaging Materials Committee (FDCPMC) is a self-funded business unit of The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. Since 1957, the FDCPMC has fostered the use of good science and good public policy in the safe use and regulation of packaging and non-packaging components for food, drugs, personal care products, cosmetics, toys and medical devices. The FDCPMC provides a network for the dissemination of regulatory information and a forum for the discussion of relevant global issues. The FDCPMC:

• Monitors and disseminates information on FDA and European policies on food, drug, and cosmetic packaging, and materials for medical devices and toys.
• Sponsors semi-annual conferences and business meetings.
• Develops SPI positions on food, drug, and cosmetic packaging issues, and other plastic food contact applications.

Current FDCPMC Subcommittees include:

• Technical Subcommittee
• Government Affairs Subcommittee
• International Subcommittee
• Medical and Personal Care Products Subcommittee
• Color and Additives Products Subcommittee

The FDCPMC is actively addressing:

• Restoration of funding for FDA's Food Contact Notification Program.
• EU regulations on plastics, coatings, additives and colorants.
• Regulatory issues concerning additives and colorants
• Chemical substances used in food-contact applications in China

Eligibility

Membership in the FDCPMC is open to any member of SPI who makes an allocation of some portion of its SPI dues payment to the FDCPMC. Affiliate membership is available for resin companies. Please contact the Executive Director for additional information.

Major Events

Semi-annual Committee meetings; Subcommittee and Task Group meetings held on an as-needed basis.

Next Meetings

June 23-25, 2008, Philadelphia , Pennsylvania

The Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Packaging Materials Committee will hold its Spring Conference June 23-25, 2008, at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel in downtown Philadelphia , Pennsylvania .

The program, FDA 101, is being offered, again, by popular demand, and will feature a primer on FDA regulation of food packaging materials, which has been offered to the Committee periodically for many years. This year's program will refresh the memories of veteran Committee members about, and will introduce new members to, the FDA regulatory process for clearing components of food packaging. It also will include detailed presentations on Food-Contact Notification, along with technical considerations for both chemistry and toxicology.

The Tuesday afternoon session will address other issues of current interest and concern for packaging and materials suppliers, and will include an update on REACH (EU Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals), the regulation of additives for packaging materials under Chinese Standard GB 9685, and retail environmental sustainable packaging initiatives.

For your planning purposes, meetings currently scheduled are listed as follows:

Monday, June 23rd
Executive Board meeting (Board members only) – morning
FDA 101 Workshop, Part 1 – 3:00 to 5:30 pm

Tuesday, June 24th
FDA 101 Workshop, Part 2 – 8:00 am to noon, followed by a buffet lunch

Afternoon Program, 1:30 to 5:00 pm - presentations on Chinese additives, REACH, and environmental sustainable packaging initiatives

Reception - 6:00 to 8:00 pm

Wednesday, June 25th
Full Committee Business Meeting - 8:30 am to 12:00 pm

Government Affairs Subcommittee Meeting - 12:30 to 2:00pm, with continued harmonization discussions between FDA and Health Canada .

FDA 101 Workshop Agenda…

Registration and hotel reservations…

Newsletter

Keller and Heckman LLP, SPI's general legal counsel and a firm with both legal and scientific expertise in packaging, issues a newsletter to all Committee members on a regular basis, approximately every 4-6 weeks as events warrant. These letters cover current regulatory developments at FDA (and related U.S. agencies), in Europe, and elsewhere in the world that are significant to packaging for food, drugs, and cosmetics and other products of interest to members, such as medical devices.

Links of Interest

U.S. Food and Drug Administration

FDA Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition.

U.S. Department of Agriculture

PackagingLaw.Com – The on-line resource for packaging law, sponsored by Keller & Heckman LLP.

European Commission DG Joint Research Centre – Food Contact Materials Resource Center.

Canadian Food Inspection Agency – Reference Listing of Accepted Construction Materials, Packaging Materials and Non-Food Chemical Products.

Health Canada – Chemical Health Hazard Assessment Division, Food Program for Food Packaging Materials

Publications

Food, Drug and Cosmetic Packaging Materials Committee publications

Plastic Bottle Technical Documents

Rigid Plastic Container Technical Documents

More About SPI:   Vision and Mission . Membership . Business Units . Regional Offices . News and Publications . Calendar of Events . Terms and Conditions of Use